THE PART PLAYED BY THE PEOPLE OF STRATHGLASS IN THE SURVIVAL AND REVIVAL OF THE FAITH IN THE HIGHLANDSBy Flora Forbes (written in 1977 on the 150th Anniversary of St Mary's Eskadale)

Strathglass, the Upper Valley of the River Beauly, which belonged to the Chisholm clan, is a remarkable instance of a district which remained faithful to the Catholic Faith long after the "Reformation" of 1560. This was not a peaceful transmission from father to son. The laws and penalties enacted to destroy the Ancient Faith led to the area being without any priests for almost 100 years.

The years between 1660 and 1680 saw the revival of Catholicism in Strathglass. This was largely due to Mr Robert Munro, a secular priest, who has been called 'The Apostle of Strathglass.’ (Secular priests were addressed as Mr until roughly 1880.) He was a convert from Ross-shire and was a visiting missionary from 1671.1704. He may have been induced to come by Father Francis White, an Irish Vincentian, with whom he had worked in Lochaber and who had been in Strathglass before him. Mr Munro may also have been invited to come by Alexander Fraser of Kinerras, a small estate above Eskadale in Lower Strathglass. Alexander had been a fellow-student at Douai.

"In 1677, Alexander Leslie was sent by Propaganda (responsible for sending missionaries) to make a visitation of the whole of Scotland. In his report of 1681, he stated that "the Chief (of the Chisholms) is a most zealous Catholic and so are practically all his vassals, having been reconciled to the Church by the missionary Munro." The Chisholm of 1742 was a Catholic but a later generation abandoned the Faith. But there is no lack of evidence to show that in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Knockfin Chisholms (Note 1) were the leading Catholic family and indeed the most powerful and influential after the Chisholms. It may have been for this reason that Colin I of Knockfin, the second son of the seventeenth Chief, was credited with the part he is supposed to have played in welcoming the first missionaries to Strathglass. (A Highland Mission, Strathglass, 1671-1777. Alexander S. MacWilliam. Innes Review, XXIV 2: p. 18.)

After 1681, Father Hugh Ryan, an Irish Bamabite (Note 2) visited Strathglass from time to time. Mass centres were opened at Ach-an-Eaglais (Tomich) and at Clachan Comar.

In 1699, Bishop Nicolson visited Strathglass and administered Confirmation for the first time in the Highlands since the "Reformation". In his report, it was stated "that all in the Chisholm country are Catholics".

In 1704, Mr Munro, who had been imprisoned and twice banished from the country, was taken prisoner in Glengarry and died a few days later, as the result of the brutal treatment he received. It was a fitting end to the 30 years' apostolate of the First Highlander to become a priest since the "Reformation". In 1701 (or 1703), Strathglass was entrusted to the priest's of the Society of Jesus (or Jesuits). Father Alexander Macrae served this district till 1741. The most famous of these Jesuit missionaries was Father John Farquharson, 1729-1746 and again from 1748-1753. In 1741, he was joined by Father Alexander Cameron, S.J., a brother of Lochiel of the "45". The latter ministered principally to the people of Lower Strathglass and in Glenstrathfarrar.

As both the Chisholms and the Frasers of Lower Strathglass had fought on the Jacobite side in the" 45", soldiers were sent to Strathglass and the two Farquharsons arrested. (Father Cameron was arrested in Lochaber.) These three priests were sent as prisoners to London where Father Cameron, S.J., died.

In 1748, Father Farquharson returned to Strathglass but under the penalty of death if he should fall into the hands of the authorities. He left in 1753 and was succeeded by Father Norman McLeod, S.1., a convert and a native of Lewis, to whose holy and edifying life, reference is made in Father Aeneas Mackenzie's "Memoir of Strathglass", written in 1846, on which much of this article is based. In Father McLeod's time, there were said to be 1,321 Catholics in Strathglass.

In 1777, John Chisholm, son of Valentine Chisholm, of Inchully (of the Knockfin family), returned to Strathglass from Douai. He was the first native priest of Strathglass since the "Reformation". He built a small house and chapel at Fasnakyle, near the junction of Glen Affric and Strathglass, where he laboured with much success for 15 years (Note 3).

In 1789, he was joined by his younger brother, Mr Aeneas Chisholm, who resided chiefly in his father's house at Inchully, where he built a small chapel for the Catholics in the neighbourhood. In 1792, Mr John became Vicar-Apostolic of the Highland District, over which he ruled from 1792-1814. In the same year, Mr Aeneas succeeded his brother in the mission at Fasnakyle, where he replaced the earlier chapel by a slated one in 1803 (replaced by the present chapel at Marydale in 1866) (Note 4). In 1804, he was consecrated as Co-adjutor to his brother. In 1814, he succeeded him as Vicar-Apostolic of the Highland District. He died at Lismore on July 31st, 1818.

In 1793, Mr Austin MacDonell was entrusted with the charge of Lower Strathglass, where the numbers of Catholics were growing, owing to the clearances in Upper Strathglass. Mr Fraser of Moulie, a convert, gave a grant of land to build a new chapel at Aigas, the first slated one in Strathglass, which was opened in 1801. There are no ruins on the site.

In 1825, Lord Lovat, desirous to provide better accommodation, built a chapel at Eskadale, on a scale of grandeur hitherto unknown in the Highlands. It was opened in 1827. How splendid St Mary's Eskadale was, is realised when it is remembered that a Catholic chapel at this time anywhere throughout the Highlands was usually a barn-like structure, with no windows and a mud floor.

The centenary of Eskadale was fittingly celebrated on August 22nd, 1926, when Mass was said by Bishop Bennett, in the presence of the clergy of the diocese. The special preacher was Father (afterwards Monsignor) Ronald Knox, a frequent visitor to Eskadale. Not only does this parish owe its fine church to Lord Thomas, but for almost 150 years the Lovats have been generous benefactors, both to the church and to the school. Throughout these years, congregations have been greatly indebted to them for their leadership and support. (Note 5.)

Well might Strathglass be called "a nursery 'of priests". Bishop John and Bishop Aeneas were not the only descendants of Colin Chisholm of Knockfin to help to bring about "The Second Spring". In all, five bishops and at least 25 "home" priests were directly or collaterally descended from Colin of Knockfin. These included two, who ministered to the Highlanders and to the Irish, who were pouring into the Glasgow area, in search of work in the "first half of the nineteenth century:

Dean Valentine Chisholm, who was Parish Priest of St John's in the Gorbals, Glasgow (congregation 12,000-18,000) from 1855-1882.

Mgr. Hugh Chisholm, who was Parish Priest of St Mirin's, Paisley, one of the largest parishes in the Western District, from 1881-1908. (Note: From 1732-1828, Scotland was divided into two districts. In 1828, it was divided into three - Eastern, Northern and Western. The Highlands and the Glasgow area were in the Western District.)

In addition, owing to the evictions and the great wave of emigration from 1750-1850, there were at least 35 priests of Knockfin descent in Nova Scotia by 1935. Among emigrant priests of Strathglass origin, two were destined to become bishops:

Father Alexander Macdonell, Bishop of Kingston, Ontario, 1826-1840, called the Apostle of Ontario.

Father William Fraser, Bishop of Halifax and afterwards of Arichat (Antigonish), Nova Scotia, 1844-1851. Both 'were related to the Chisholm bishops. Both played an important part in building the Church in Eastern Canada.

1977 marked the 150th anniversary of the opening of St Mary's, Eskadale. It would be a pity' if the story of the penal times, which only ended in 1829, were not known to the people of Strathglass and their descendants, wherever they may be. It has all the elements of a thrilling tale. Here you have heroes, living under fictitious names and going about in disguise; suffering hunger, thirst and privation; making night journeys and having hair-breadth escapes. Considering these days, "one sees' not the splendour of ritual and. ceremonial in great cathedrals . . . but the celebrations, hurried and hidden, yet most reverent of the Mass, said it may be in a barn". Surely such a story would give "them a pride in the history of the Faith in their land."

NOTES

Five bishops belong to this family: The Easbuigean bana, Bishops John and Aeneas Chisholm, successively Vicars-Apostolic of the Highland District; Bishop Alexander Macdonell of Kingston, Ontario; Bishop William Fraser of Arichat, Nova Scotia, and Bishop Aeneas Chisholm of Aberdeen; also many priests at home and in Nova Scotia. Those surviving in Scotland are Canon Kenneth Mackenzie, Huntly; Fr. John A. MacNeil, Knoydart, and Fr. Hugh Gordon, St John's, Portobello, Edinburgh. (Innes Review: XXIV, 2, p. 78.)

Irish Missionaries. Since the early seventeenth century, Irish Franciscans, Vincentians and Dominicans had served in the Western Isles and had reconciled thousands of people, who had lapsed for the want of priests. Irish priests were the most suitable, owing to the similarity of Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Repeated appeals had been made to Propaganda to send missionaries as there were 3-4,000 Catholics without any priests. In 1664, in the Highlands, there was no missionary but Father Francis White, an Irishman belonging to the Vincentians, founded in 1625, by St Vincent de Paul. " Father White made several visits to Strathglass from Glengarry, where he had laboured for 24 years. He died there on January 28th, 1679, "after having gathered a most abundant harvest of souls in the West Highlands". After his death, Mr Dunbar "reported, "if any of his countrymen would be sent to take his place, it would be a great help to us, Others . . . are of no use, as they do not know the language." (Anson, Underground Catholicism in Scotland. p. 71-72.) .

Bishop John Geddes, Co-adjutor to Bishop George Hay, Vicar-Apostolic of the Lowland Region, visited Strathglass in June 1780. "He stayed a night at Guisachan, then came to Crochail (Inchully), seeing the chapel at Fasnakyle on the way. 'The Chapel, 18-20ft. broad, more than 50ft. long and has a cross; house, 20 or 30ft. long.' Mr Aeneas Chisholm walked with him to Beauly, where he arrived the same day." (Innes Review: VI. II. p. 138.)

Bishop John and Bishop Aeneas were known as "The Fair Bishops". There are portraits in Blairs, which show them to have been good looking, florid and fair-haired. Bishop John removed the small seminary from Samalaman in Moidart to Lismore, an island opposite Oban. In this he was helped by secret government funds. Here it remained from 1803-1829, when it was joined with Blairs. During its short existence, with never more than 10 students, it supplied some of "the best priests to the Highland Mission". (Blundell Catholic Highlands of Scotland: II, p. ISS.) One of the masters, who taught there from 1814-1822, was Mr William Fraser, who emigrated to Canada in 1822 and later became Bishop of Arichat (Nova Scotia).

Simon, 14th Lord Lovat, raised a regiment named the Lovat Scouts, which distinguished itself in the Boer War, 1899-1902. Many men from Strathglass served in the "Scouts". In the World War, 1939-1945, the 15th Lord Lovat became famous as an outstanding Commando leader.